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Affordable Care Act’s Employer Mandate to be Delayed Until 2015

July 3, 2013

The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will delay until 2015 the requirement that businesses with more than 50 employees provide health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

This delay is designed to allow for more time to consider ways to simplify the new reporting requirements consistent with the law, according to Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Obama, in a White House blog post released Tuesday.

It will also “allow employers the time to test the new reporting systems and make any necessary adaptations to their health benefits while staying the course toward making health coverage more affordable and accessible for their workers,” she wrote.

Other key parts of the law remain intact. Health insurance exchanges are still scheduled to be open for business on Oct. 1, and the “individual mandate,” requiring most individuals to have insurance or pay a penalty, will still go into effect in 2014.

This change does not affect businesses with fewer than 50 employees, who were already exempt from the employer mandate rule. Most large businesses already offer coverage to their employees.

The government still encourages businesses to voluntarily begin reporting in 2014 so they will be ready for 2015.

The National Retail Federation was quick to respond to the delay, calling it a “wise move.”

“This one-year delay will provide employers and businesses more time to update their health care coverage without threat of arbitrary punishment,” said National Retail Federation President Neil Trautwein in a statement.